Obama wants a 'customer-friendly' federal government

8/22/12 11:30 AM EDT

In an interview with three Nevada newspapers, President Obama said that he wanted to make the federal government accessible and "customer-friendly."

“On all these issues, I think the most important thing we can do, and a big project of mine, is just making the federal government more customer friendly,” Obama said, according to the Nevada Appeal.

Government red tape "impedes folks from getting service quickly," Obama said. As a result, the president told reporters that he wanted to make it easier for people to get a license or a permit from Washington.

Obama also nodded to the west's libertarian, decentralized traditions, saying that it was important not to impose solutions on local problems from Washington.

"I think the best role the federal government can play is oftentimes listening and trying to come to consensus at the local level and making sure the federal government is not getting in the way of that consensus once it's built up," Obama said, citing a local standoff over wild horses as an example.

About the ongoing economic malaise and slow recover, Obama acknowledged the level of frustration in the country, saying: "You're the president of the United States, some of that dissatisfaction is going to be directed toward you.”